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The malfunction of just one important instrument can lead to a complete plant-wide shut down - and losses measured in millions. INTERTEC has an arsenal of techniques to protect your installation against failures caused by Nature or accident that we can supply as components, or complete turnkey solutions, including. Click on the topic of interest to read more:

Freeze protection

It sounds simple but beware: it's vital to scale freeze protection to handle the coldest spot in your equipment - be aware where this is and also make sure there are no 'heat shortcuts' from interior to exterior. And just because there are only tiny amounts of water in media does not mean that freeze protection is unnecessary: ice will accumulate layer by layer until it eventually blocks a tube or valve.

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Corrosive atmospheres or media

Chemical and oil and gas plants can often have very corrosive atmospheres (with hydrogen sulphide for instance) that can cause corrosion and failure of electrical contacts, etc. The GRP material used in INTERTEC enclosures is resistant to very many chemicals.

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Ingress protection

What is the appropriate dust and fluid protection required for your application? Any IP or NEMA rating can be achieved with the NEMA system. But also consider factors such as dewpoints and condensation when configuring enclosures. Housings with vents and drains might well provide superior protection. IP ratings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code NEMA ratings: http://www.nema.org/prod/be/enclosures/

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Temperature regulation

Maintaining an elevated temperature is often essential in order to prevent condensation and/or crystallization of media at instrumentation points in chemical and petrochemical plants, and sample conditioning systems for analyzers. Some users create ad hoc solutions in the form of a 'hot air shower' where a fan (or compressed air) warms the local environment. These can be very energy intensive and difficult to build for hazardous areas. The optimal solution is a 'hot box'(US) - an enclosure for the equipment in question, fitted with a heating element and controller.

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Extreme temperatures

Some Ex equipment is only rated for use between -20 and +40 C, but many oil and gas environments today are demanding â€“65 to +65 C. INTERTEC can provide housings with the appropriate heating/climatisation - plus alarms/switches to handle any failure of the heating element.

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Fire resistance

There are a large number of fire standards worldwide - typically focused on two goals: preventing a small source of fire from getting bigger, or limiting a fire to a room or part of an installation. INTERTEC uses only fire-retardant GRP material (having so-called 'self extinguishing' properties) that naturally limits flame spread. Heat insulation can be achieved by also employing sandwich constructions of GRP around cores of mineral wool or other materials, to achieve fire resistances of up to 120 minutes. Enclosure or shelter designs can be fabricated to keep the temperature within the operational range of the equipment ( e.g. 60 C) for a particular duration (e.g. 30 minutes). These designs can meet temperature curves such as EN or UL1709 while keeping protected equipment below ignition temperature ( i.e. 180 C). Enclosures made from GRP are naturally superior at this task than ones fabricated using highly conductive metal materials.

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Solar/UV radiation

Ambient temperatures are defined â€˜in the shadeâ€™, sun shades are often vital accessories to make the enclosure/shelter operate efficiently. Good heat conducting materials such as aluminium or steel make poor shades as they can lead to radiation between shade and instrument. It's often thought that plastic materials are not robust enough for sun/UV shade duties, but this is a fallacy. Today, plastic coatings protect many of our most precious possessions (house, car, etc). INTERTEC can apply a UV- and scratch-resistant gel coating with a thickness of 800 micrometers (a typical automobile might have just 100 micrometers) that will last at least 20 years.

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Explosion proof

All equipment in hazardous areas must meet the requirements defined in IEC 60079-0. Specifications can include:Â· â€˜Elstatâ€™ (electrostatic) antistatic materials, to prevent sparks caused by electrostatic charging.Â· Ingress protection (e.g. IP65) is demanded by many Ex standards (IEC 60079 ff). Â· Mechanical protection (against impacts) is a demand in many â€˜types of protectionâ€™.INTERTEC enclosures and cabinets are available tested and approved for Ex p (pressurisation) â€˜types of protectionâ€™.For North America there are special regulations. INTERTEC heaters and enclosures are approved by CSA or ETL under the NRTL program: http://www.osha.gov/dts/otpca/nrtl/index.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Electrical_Code

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Impacts

The natural strength and flexibility of GRP makes it excellent at providing mechanical protection, against either accidental impacts or vandalism, in a form that can withstand significant forces without structural damage.

Wind/blast/seismic force

Enclosures / cabinets / shelters can be constructed to withstand very high pressures such as offshore winds (240 km/h), explosion blast pressures, or seismic loads (Zone 5).The material is very well suited for extreme seismic situations because it is light and the intrinsic flexibility acts like a 'suspension'

Do-it-yourself integration

We offer free software to help you configure your own enclosure, cabinet or shelter scale solutions faster and more efficiently.

Turnkey design/build

The SAFE LINK service creates complete system solutions, tailor-made for your needs. Our systems are much more than the sum of their parts - you get truly integrated solutions with added-value performance and reliability derived from know-how gained on thousands of similar applications.